Start of a Career
by DMM
Summary: This story takes place when Sly is only ten years old. After his father's murder he is sent to the Happy Campers Orphanage. During this time, he will meet his two best friends for the first time, as well as his foxy rival.
1. The New Guy

_Start of a Career_ (takes place at the Happy Campers Orphanage when Sly is only ten years old)

_Chapter 1. The New Guy_

Sly sat in the office of the principal's office. Although he was in an orphanage it also served as a school for the kids. Sly still had the vision of his father lying motionless on the floor. Five mysterious strangers had come to his house and murdered his father, while also taking his family heirloom, the Thievious Racoonus. Now here he was at the Happy Campers Orphanage. Inside his red backpack his father had given him was what remained of the Thievious Racoonus, as well as the toys his father had made for him. Laying in his lap was his family's famous thief tool, the Cooper Cane. Not only could it be used as a weapon, but the Cooper family's thief moves relied on the help of this cane. Not two days ago was he playing with his father when the five strangers broke into his house. Now here he was, getting ready to prepare for a life at Happy Campers. Little did he know that it would be here where he would meet his soon-to-be best friends, as well start his career as the Master Thief.

"Well, Sly, I certaintly hope you won't be any trouble. Here is your class skedule. If you ever need any help on finding your next class, just stop by my office. Come now, I'll escort you the C Dorms."

"Um, thank you, sir." Coming from the famous thief family, Sly couldn't help himself but to steal an ink pen with gold colored ink off of the principal's desk. He quickly stuck it in his backpack before the principal could notice.

"Oh, you can call me Mr. Mendez." Mendez was a big but kind old moose. After a pretty short walk the two stopped outside the C Dorms. "Almost forgot. You'll be needing these."

Mendez handed Sly a blue notebook, a blue ink pen, a cheap pocket watch, and an ID necklace. "Whats this for, Mr. Mendez?"

"Oh, just a little something we give to every new kid here. Always where your ID necklace, and that notebook and pen are for your class assignments. The watch is just something a little extra we throw in. Now, as for that cane of yours..."

Sly instantly knew what Mendez was thinking. "Don't worry, Mr. Mendez. I won't hit people with it." Sly finished putting his stuff in his backpack, and then walked into the C Dorms. It was a fairly large room. Bunks completely filled the left side with the kids' stuff laying beside them. The right side was filled with toys, while the middle just had comfortable furniture, a big oak table, and a t.v with a Super Nintendo plugged up to it. None of the other kids didn't notice him enter because they were too busy playing. After what had happened to his father, Sly just felt like sleeping. Since he hadn't been assigned his own bed yet, he just wentover to the couch to sleep.

Sly was surprised t see a turtle with big glasses setting there reading a book. So much for sleeping here. Sly just took a seat beside him. The turtle looked up at him rather shyly. "Um, are you new here?"

"Yeah, I guess. My name's Sly. Whats yours?" Sly figured that the turtle didn't have many friends since he was the only one on the couch so he would try to be his friend.

"Bentley. Smartest kid in the orphanage. Nobody can beat me at math races or spelling bees. Nobody. You may think you're a hotshot because you're new, but all that excitement will quickly fade once you face me in a math race. "

Sly was beginning to like Bentley. "Ah, I never liked spelling. Never was good at math either. But let me tell ya this, nobody is faster and more cunning than me. I'm like a ninja. I could sneak up on somebody, and steal their wallet without them even noticing."

"Are you saying you're a thief?" Bentley asked curiously.

"Well...yeah, I am. My father taught me everything I know about stealing. Me and him once broke into a museum together. It was the best night of my life." Sly still remembered those nights when his father had taken him on those thrilling heists.

Bentley gave a little laugh. "Well, as long as you don't steal nothing from me, I'll keep it a secret. However, see that girl over there?" Bentley pointed to a young female fox who was pretending to be a cop.

"Oh yeah. Dang, she is fine! I have to admit, you have good taste, Bentley." Sly couldn't help but just keep looking at the girl.

"Sly, thats not what I meant. If she finds out you're a thief she'll tell on you. You could get a day of detention...or worse. You could get paddled. Or even more worse, you could get paddle by Ms. Mills!"

"Take it easy, Bentley. I'm the son of a Master Thief. I'll never get caught. See that perse over there? I betcha five bucks that I can pilfer it of its goods without getting seen once." Sly began walking very slowly towards the perse.

Bentley was very nervous. "Sly, thats Carmelita's perse. You know, the fox girl." Bentley said in a shaky voice.

"Just another reason for me to steal it. Relax, Bentley. My father taught me well." Sly unzipped the perse and looked inside of it. Thats all he had tie to do because Carmelita turned around and saw what he was doing.

"Stop, ringtail!" To Sly's amazement, Carmelita ran and tackled Sly to the floor, putting him in a headlock. Everybody in the entire dorm was watching the scene. "So, you just thought you'd steal my perse, is that it?"

Sly was overjoyed. "Wow, didn't think I'd have a woman all over me at this age. I must say, those blue highlights in your hair go perfect with that toy badge of yours. The name's Sly Cooper, but you can call me Ringtail if ya want, hottstuff."

This made Carmelita furious. She raised her hand high, and brought it down fiercely, slapping Sly right upside the head. Afterwards, she ran out of the C Dorms to Mr. Mendez's office. Bentley walked over to Sly. "You okay, Sly?"

"Okay? I've never felt better! I just got slapped by a girl! A feisty one at that! My dad would be so proud of me. But man, she hits hard as heck." Sly said, rubbing where he had been slapped. "Its like my dad always said. If you can't dodge the Fist of Fury, don't give it a reason to come out."

**Five minutes later...**

"I don't don't know what to tell you, Sly. You've gotten in trouble on your first day here. In your first ten mnutes here, as matter of fact. Thats a new record, ya know? Anyways, since you're new here, I'll let ya off the hook. But if it happens again, you'll get detention. Third time, you'll get paddled. The fourth time, Lord have mercy on your soul if it happens, you get paddled by Ms. Mills. Do I make my self clear, Sly?"

"Yeah, I guess. Can I go to sleep now?" Sly hadn't been paying atention to a single thing Mendez had said.

"Sure, let me assign you a bed real quick."


	2. Stealing With Ease

___Chapter 2. Stealing With Ease_

Sly and Bentley sat at a table near the back of the corner, talking about anything interesting. Well, Sly was doing most of the talking, and all he ever talked about was stealing or Carmelita. "Hey, Bentley. See that chick over there?" Sly pointed to Mona, a black Persian cat. "I betcha I can still her jelly donut without her even noticing. Think I can pull it off?"

"Well, in all honesty, I think you could steal it without her catching you. Although Carmelita would catch you. She is Mona's best friend after all." Bentley took a drink of his milk, however, he quickly spat it out when he saw the remainder of a donut Sly had put in it. "Hey! I was drinking that!"

Sly burst out laughing. "Heh, that was great. Anyway, cheer up. I'll go get ya another one. I gotta go up that way anyway." Sly got up to go Bentley another milk. He bumped into Carmelita on his way up to the food counter. "Oh, sorry 'bout that. I was blinded by your beauty so I didn't notice you." Sly nearly fell over when Carmelita gave him a rather fierce shove. "Ah, being hard to get, eh? Deny it all you want, but I know you like me." Sly ducked as Carmelita chucked a donut at him.

Sly got Bentley's milk and started to walk back to his table. On his way back he quickly snatched Mona's donut off of her trey without her noticing. Even better, Carmelita didn't even notice. Sly threw Bentley his milk, and then sat down back at his table. "Told ya I could pull it of."

"I don't think getting somebody a small carton of milk is something to be worshipped for, Sly. Even Big Burt could pull that off."

"Yes it is. Now bow down before your master, worm! Alright, now time to get serious. Weren't you watching? I snatched Mona's jelly donut without getting caught. I stole it with ease. I told ya I could do it."

Bentley looked up at Sly with a bored look on his face. "Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. What did you say?" Bentley grinned when he saw Sly's annoyed look.

**Out on the Happy Campers playground...**

"Oh, come on, Bentley! We're on recess! Nobody does homework on recess! Quit being such a nerd. C'mon, these kids are carrying plenty of goods on them. Lets go steal some stuff. You and me, what do ya say?"

Bentley gave a deep sigh. "Fine, if it'll get you to shut up."

"I knew you'd come around. Now, who should we pilfer next?" Sly looked around the playground, and then saw his next target. "Hey, Bentley. Jonesy sure is wearing an expensive watch, don't ya think? I think we should steal it. How 'bout you?"

"Sure, if thats want you want. So how are we gonna get it?"

"Well, you're the genius. Think of a great plan that we could use to steal it. We can't let this slip buy." Sly couldn't take his eyes off of the watch.

Bentley thought for a moment, then came up with a plan. "I've got it! Okay, listen closely. Jonesy likes to race. If you challenge him to a race he'll have to take off his watch because its so loose on his wrist that it would fall off. More than likely, he'll lay it down somewhere. While you're racing against him I'll sneak up and snatch the watch. Its a perfect plan, wouldn't you say?"

Sly's jaw dropped. "Bentley, you're amazing! I'd have never thought of that! You've gotta become my partner in crime once we're old enough to leave this place."

"Now that I'll have to think about. Now, are you ready to get on with the plan?"

"Better believe it. Lets get started."

Sly walked over to Jonesy who was a cheetah, while Bentley stayed behind, waiting for Jonesy to put his watch down. "Yo, whats happening, chump? Betcha I could beat ya in a race."

Jonesy accepted his challenge. "Alright. Just because you're the new hotshot around here doesn't mean you can beat me." Jonesy placed his watch in his backpack, and then both him and Sly ran to the race track. After Mona blew a whistle the both took off with Sly quickly taking first place.

As everybody else was watching the race Bentley snuck up to Jonesy's bag and unzipped it. He quickly took the watch, zipped the bag back up, and then ran back to the bench where he started to act like he was doing his homework.

Sly noticed Jonesy getting closer so he dropped a coin on the ground, and laughed while Jonesy stopped to pick it up. Sly crossed the finish line just as Jonesy had started to run again. "Well, looks like I win." Sly walked back over to where Bentley was and took a seat. "So, did you get it?"

"Right here it is. I suggest you keep it in your backpack so Jonesy won't see it." Bentley handed Sly the watch.

"I don't plan on keeping it that long. Tonight I'm sneeking out of the orphanage to sell this for some cash. I know this guy who'll pay quiet a bit for this. My dad used to go to his place all the time."

"Sneek out of the orphanage? Do you realize how much trouble you'd be in if you got caught?"

"If I don't sell it soon Jonesy will find out that we're the ones who took it. Besides, it'll be fun." Sly began laughing as he watched Jonesy look for his watch.

Sorry if this chapter has a few grammar mistakes but I was in a hurry so I had to type it rather fast. Hope you liked it.


	3. Fraley's Pawnshop

Thanks for the reviews. I'll try to make my spelling and grammar a little better.

_Chapter 3: Fraley's Pawnshop_

"Sly, I'm not very sure this is a good idea. Do you realize the trouble we could get into if we're caught?" Bentley had decided to sneak out of the orphanage with Sly, but now he regretted it.

"Look, if you don't want to come with me just go back to the dorms. Either way, I'm selling all this loot I've stolen for some cash, and then I'm gonna hang out at the local arcade for a while. I'm tellin' ya, Bentley, you'll miss out on a lot of fun by staying here." Sly finished unlocking the door with his lockpick, and then stepped outside. Tonight wasn't that busy because there were very few cars on the road. From all of the heists Sly had been on with his father he knew the city inside and out. "C'mon, Bentley, this way."

"But those cars are moving awfully fast. Plus, this hill has ice on it. Its too dangerous to go tonight." Bentley was hoping he could talk Sly out of going.

"Hey, Bentley?"

So much for that.

Sly noticed that there weren't many cars on the road so he had an idea. "Bentley, get into your shell. This is going to be fun." Sly looked at Bentley with a mischievious grin on his face.

"Woohoo! This is freakin' awesome!" Sly was cruising down the hill on Bentley, using his shell as a sled. When they neared the road Sly used his hands to push the shell a little to the left so they could hit a wooden ramp.

As Mr. Mendez was leaving the orphanage he had to pull over to the side of the road to fix a flat tire. "Ah, I can't believe this! First Cooper gets in trouble, causing me to stay late to deal with the problem, and now this! What next, a freaking flying turtle?" Mr. Mendez was nearly scared to death when a turtle with a hooded figure on it landed on the hood of his car, and then slid off it, and into a bush. "What in God's name?" Mendez was furious when he seen the huge dent in his car. "That little scumbag! When I find out who did this-" Mendez was cut off when a snowball busted directly in his face.

Sly and Bentley ran down the road as fast as they could, laughing their heads off. "Now, see all of the fun you'd be missing out on if you'd had stayed in that dull orphanage? Not only did we just hit an awesome jump, but we also ticked off Mr. Mendez without him knowing it was us."

Even Bentley had to admit that it had been fun as heck. "C'mon, lets do it again! We've still got enough time for one more ride!"

"Ah, maybe some other time. Mr. Mendez is still over there cursing to himself. Hehe! He just slipped on some ice and fell in yellow snow! Alright, enough goofing around, Fraley's place isn't far.

Bentley had now learned that whenever Sly said something wasn't far it always turned out to be a long ways off. "We've been walking for two hours. When are we going to get there, Sly?"

"We're already here. We've passed this place five times already. I just couldn't let that one guy get away from me without stealing his wallet. You seen all of the money that guy was carrying, he was loaded. It was worth the time." They walked into the small pawnshop and saw Fraley setting at his desk reading a book. "Yo, Fraley, remember me?"

"Cooper? Say, ain't you the Master Thief's son? I thought you was killed the same night your father was." Fraley was a crazy old wolf. He had once shot at customers because he had thought they were religous cultists who wanted his sacred treasure. His sacred treasure was nothing but a fifty eight year old bottle of wine. Nobody knew how Fraley had become such a nutcase.

"No. I'd rather really not talk about that. Look, I got some stuff in my pack to sell you." Sly placed all of his stolen goods on Fraley's counter. Sly had stolen a ton of things. Jonesy's watch, Carmelita's butterfly necklace, Big Burt's silver skull ring, and some other exspensive jewelry. He had thought about stealing Mr. Mendez's prized golf trophy but realized that Mendez would easily notice it was gone because he polished it everyday.

"God bless, boy, you've been busy. I'll pay ya two hundred for the whole lot. Whaddya say, boy?" Fraley spit out tobacco juice in a can that was beside Bentley. Sly had given a silent laugh when a little had gotten on Bentley.

"You got a deal." Sly had ripped Fraley off. All of the loot combined only equaled a total of ninety, but because Fraley wasn't too bright he had given more than what it was worth. As Sly stepped out of Fraley's shop he checked his pocket watch. "Darn. I was hoping we would have time to go take a trip to the arcade but we don't. We'll have to do it another time. C'mon, lets get back to the orphanage."

"Sounds fine to me. I feel like I'm about to pass out. This odor is unbearable." Bentley could still see the stain on his shirt that the tobacco juice had left on it.

"Hehe! Better you than me!"

"Ah, just shut up, ringtail!" Bentley and Sly poked fun at each other the entire way back to the orphanage, with Bentley constantly griping about the tobacco stain.


	4. Stealing a Kiss

_After two years without a computer, I FINALLY got a new one. Updates for this story shall come every weekend now._

_ **Start of a Career Chapter 4: Stealing a Kiss  
**_

It had been a little over a month since Sly and Bentley had snuck out of the school to go to Fraley's place. Christmas was getting nearer, being only two weeks away. This was the time of year the thief duo had been waiting for. They had already devised multiple plans for pilfering the presents, and had already set a date for when they would haul off all of their stolen loot to their fence, Fraley.

Sly lie on the floor of the entertainment room, "editing" a wish list that had been made by a fellow student. It was a plan Bentley had come up with. Seeing as how Mr. Mendez was a very rich man, he was willing to buy presents for all of the students. After a student had made his wish list, Sly would steal it. He would then "edit" it by erasing the listed items and replace them with his own items. The presents would be arriving on Christmas Eve night. He and Bentley would steal all of the presents and haul them on over to the pawn shop to make some big bucks. They had decided to save up all of the money so they could buy a van. They had already decided on a choice of career, and Bentley had stated that a van would be perfect for carrying stolen loot.

"Here's another list, Bentley. Just put it back where I stole it from, and one of the teachers will eventually pick it up." Bentley stifled a yawn as he looked up from a book he was reading.

"Can't you do it, Sly? I'm studying up on the Doppler Effect and-"

"Good grief, Bentley! I've been doing it all day! Get your lazy butt out of that chair, and put this list back. You're more of a book worm than Mr. Dyer." Mr. Dyer was the science teacher. However, most of the time he just read out of a book while the kids ran wild about the classroom. It was no wonder the kids didn't even no what the atmosphere was."Speaking of science, what it is the atmosphere? I got that question wrong on our last test. I swear I thought it was the thing that causes earthquakes and rainstorms." It was pretty obvious to everyone that when it came to subjects such as math, science, grammar, reading, and history, Sly was a failure.

Bentley let out a quick and agitated sigh. "Fine, I'll do it, but just this once."

"But what about my question?" Bentley answered it by throwing his science book on Sly's back. "Guess I'd better look it up in the book." He looked through the index, but couldn't find what he was supposed to be looking for. "Ah, screw it. I've already failed that test anyway. Besides, why would a thief need to know all of this super complicated science stuff? I highly doubt I'll ever need to know what causes earthquakes and rainstorms. But I wonder, what does cause those? Ohhh, I remember. It wasn't the atmosphere that caused them, it was the ozone layer. It said so in Newton's Law of Gravity." Happy with his answer, Sly stole a pack of jelly beans from a near-by student as he strolled over to Carmelita.

She was setting on the couch watching her friend Mona play a videogame. Sly leaned forward on the couch and poked Carmelita in the back of the head. She turned her head, but glared when she saw Sly standing there with a goofy grin on his face. "Heeey," Sly said in a slow, suave tone. "How's it goin'?"

"What do you want, Ringtail?" Carmelita snapped. "You had better not be up to any mischief, because if you are..." Her voice trailed off as she saw Sly waving a bag of cherry flavored jelly beans.

"Tell you what. If you give me a kiss I'll give you this candy. Do we have a deal?"

Carmelita eyed the bag of candy, watching as Sly continued to swing it left and right, like a pendulum. She wanted that bag of candy. Slowly, she leaned towards Sly, her eyes closed tightly. It took a lot of her willpower to keep from gagging.

Sly couldn't believe his plan was working. Carmelita was actually going to kiss him for a bag of jelly beans that he wasn't going to give to her. _"But why is her face like that? Looks like she's choking on something," _Sly thought to himself.

"Hey, Sly!" Bentley ran between the two, clutching a yellow paper. "I got another list for you to edit-" Bentley stopped mid-sentence as he felt both a pair of soft lips land on his cheek and Sly's murderous gaze. "Oops..."

Carmelita opened her eyes and saw that she had kissed Bentley. Her eyes went wide in shock, and she ran to the trash can. She bent over and threw up in it.

Sly felt sorry for the girl. He walked over to her while eating the jelly beans and said, "I'm really sorry about that. I would give you those jelly beans but..." He help the bag upside down. "They're all gone...Heh heh," Sly laughed nervously. Moments later, Carmelita's fist slammed into his face. Sly slowly stood up and glared at a scared Bentley. "You stole my kiss," he growled. He rolled up his sleeves and began running after a scared Bentley.

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_Finally added the next chapter. Next chapter, "The Murray" appears._


	5. The New Orphan and the Secret Admirer

**_Chapter 5: The New Orphan and the Secret Admirer_**

"Tomarrow is Christmas Eve," Sly said to Bentley. "We're gonna make a ton of money from selling all of that loot." Sly had already finished "editing" the list of almost every student.

Bentley glanced up from his book, and looked at Sly. "Will Fraley even have the money to buy all of this stuff?"

"Of course he will. The pawnshop is just a front. He's actually a very rich man. He was my dad's fence, always buying random loot from him. He always sells the loot to other buyers to get his money back. He's probably been in the crime business for at least fifty years now. He's also a very skilled thief. He and my dad once pulled off a big casino robbery in Vegas." Sly had always wanted to pull off a casino heist himself. Maybe once they graduated...

"Say, why is he so crazy and paranoid?" Bentley's question interrupted Sly's thoughts, bringing him back to reality.

"Oh. Well, my dad said that about five years ago Mr. Fraley claimed to have been visited by eight robed men who demanded he hand over his ancient bottle of wine. According to what Fraley told dad, he pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and proceeded to open fire on them. Of course, Fraley once served in the military as a sniper for twenty years, so his aim was true."

The story had piqued Bentley's interest. "Did that really happen?"

"Probably not. Fraley is really old, he's probably just becoming senile." A loud bell began ringing, signaling that class was about to begin. "See you later," Sly said with an annoyed sigh.

Sly hated science. Sly hated having to wake up very early in the morning. Most of all, though, Sly hated waking up very early in the morning to go to science class. Mr. Roger, a grouchy and fat old black bear, had given them an assignment to do, telling them to pick a partner and get to work. Sly did no such thing. He hadn't paid any attention to the lecture so he had no idea what he was supposed to do. With a mighty yawn, he laid his head on the desk, preparing to get some extra sleep. _'A thief wouldn't need to know anything about the cells of the human body anyway. At least, I think that's what he was going on about. I wish Bentley had this class with me. I could just copy his work like I do in every other class.'_ With these thoughts, Sly closed his eyes, hoping for some much wanted sleep.

"Sly?" So much for that. He lazily raised his head and saw Erika June staring at him. He didn't know her all that well. She was a pretty snow white rabbit who was known around the school as a klutzy love maniac, but beyond that, he knew nothing about her. Unknown to him and everybody else, Erika had developed a massive crush on Sly, and was very shy when speaking to him. "Um, I don't have a partner, so I w-was wondering if m-maybe you would like..." She gulped, nervousness easily detectable in her voice. "That maybe you would like to b-be my p-partner?"

_'What's wrong with this girl? Does she have a speech problem? Ah, who cares. As long as I get to copy off of her...'_ "Sure, I don't mind. I wasn't paying any attention to a single thing that old fart said though, so I have no clue as to what we're doing."

The girl seemed to relax greatly with Sly's answer. "Oh, that's no problem. I can show you what to do," she said with a small smile. A tiny bit of nervousness was still detectable in her voice, though.

Sly's hopes of being able to just simply copy her work crashed though the water. "Well...Alright, fine. I doubt I'll remember it though. My choice of career won't require any knowledge of science."

"Oh? What do you hope to be when you're older?"

"I'm gonna be a legendary, well-known, infamous master thie-th-th-th-th-teacher," he said quickly, realizing that he had almost blown his cover as a thief. He looked at Erica, hoping that she had bought his poor cover-up.

"A legendary, well-known, infamous master teacher. Oh, how romantic! I'm sure you'll do great! People who aspire to become that great are usually very nice and lovely people. How wonderful." She began staring off into space with a large smile on her face. Sly raised an eyebrow, wondering what the heck was wrong with this girl. Unknown to him, she was day dreaming about having a nice picnic underneath a big cherry tree with Sly. Her smile widened as she imagined Sly leaning over to plant an affectionate kiss on her cheek.

Sly whistled loudly, trying to snap her back into reality. "Ericka? This is Sly, calling you all the way from Earth. Are you okay?" Sly had caught her attention. With a quick jolt she snapped back into reality. Unfortunately, the sudden reaction caused her pencil to break, tearing a rather large hole through the middle of her paper. "Oh, shoot," she pouted.

Sly stood up, and grabbed the broken pencil. "Allow me," he said while walking towards the pencil sharpener.

"Oh, what a gentlemen." She once again began staring off into space, imagining that she and Sly were vacationing in Hawaii for their honeymoon.

_'Wow. That girl really is a klutzy love maniac.'_ As he was sharpening the pencil, Mr. Mendez entered the classroom with a fat hippo following behind him. _'A new student, maybe?'_

After saying a few words to the teacher, Mr. Mendez walked out of the room, leaving the new student to stand behind Mr. Roger. Mr. Roger walked to the front of the class and cleared his throat rather loudly, getting the class's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen and..." He glared at Sly. "...scoundrels, we have a new student here today. His name is...It's..." He leaned over to the new student and whispered, "What's your name, son?"

"Murray," he whispered back.

"Urm, right." He cleared his throat again, and spoke. "This is Murray, Murray, this is the science class. In all honesty, I'm too damn tired to get your class materials ready at the moment, it'll have to wait until tomarrow. So, just grab a seat and do whatever you want for the time being. Personally, I don't really care what you do as long as it doesn't interrupt my reading." With that, he sat back down in his chair, making a loud 'thump' that shook every item on his desk. He then picked up a thick novel and began reading. Unknown to everybody else, between the pages of the open book was a dirty magazine he had been studying.

Sly walked back to his desk and handed Erika her pencil. He sat back down and began watching the new kid, Murray. He sat down heavily in the desk, causing the wood to creak loudly. He unzipped his backpack and pulled out a large bag of donuts that he began to devour in large handfuls. Sly also noticed that despite his weight, Murray was also very strong.

"Look at how strong that guy is! I bet he could bend a steel bar into a perfect figure eight!"

"Do you respect anybody with who can do things like that? Well, I bet that a great man such as yourself could do the same thing, only better." She stared at Sly dreamily.

Sly stared at her curiously, but then let a smile cross his face. If she, for some strange reason, was going to worship him as a god, then he was going to gladly make up great lies about himslef and boast about them. "Well, of course somebody of my stature could easily outdo any brainless muscle man. I mean, what can I say, I'm a very talented individual. Of course, not that I wouldn't use my God-given abilities to help others," he added quickly so as to not sound like a snob.

"Oh, Sly, you're such a kind and talented person. How romantic." She clapped her hands together and rested her chin on them while once again staring off into space. Unfortunately, her elbow had pushed her notebook off of the desk and into the floor, causing the papers to scatter everywhere. "Oh, shoot," she pouted. She stood up and proceeded to clean up her mess.

_'That girl...is really weird,'_ Sly thought to himself.


	6. Theft Night

_**Author Note: I'm sorry for the long gap between the updates. My wireless internet had been acting unstable. One minute it would be working, the next it would disconnect. The problem has now been fixed, so expect updates to come sooner now.**_

_**Chapter 6: Theft Night**_

"Bentley, do you ever stop complaining? We're almost there." The two had successfully managed to steal every present from the orphanage and had been hauling it towards Fraley's shop in wagon loads. They were on their seventh trip to his place.

"I'm tired, it's 3:30 in the morning, and that old paranoid Fraley has turned my shirt brown with his tobacco juice!" Every trip they made to the pawnshop always ended with Fraley missing the juice can and his spit hitting Bentley instead. "And before that I had to take part in group study with a nerd who kept talking about PnP role playing games!"

"You think you have it bad? I was forced to take part in group study with a klutzy love maniac and a fat hippo who could chomp down the Taj Mahal in under five minutes if he was hungry enough!" Sly still remembered the splitting headache he got from listening to a lunatic refer to everything he did as romantic, and the constant crunching of the seemingly limitless amount of chips the new kid had.

"Besides," Sly said while throwing a glance back at Bentley, "This is the last load. We're almost done."

Bentley sighed with annoyance. "God, I hope so. I'm way too fatigued to keep this walking up any longer."

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Twenty minutes later and they were inside Fraley's place. "God bless, boy! This is the seventh load! How much more do you have left!?"

"This is the last load."

"Your plan was a good one, Cooper! Nothing but high quality jewelry!" He was inspecting every item with a magnifying glass, and would jot down how much he would buy it for on a piece of paper when he was done analyzing it.

"You think that's impressive? Get a load of this." Sly reached into his backpack, and, to Bentley's surprise and horror, pulled out Mr. Mendez's solid gold golf trophy. "I've had my eye on this baby for a while now. Should fetch a rather large and shiny penny."

"Good goobly goo! Where'n the blue Hell did you get that!?" Fraley grabbed it from Sly, and began going over it with a critical eye.

"Stole it from-"

"Mr. Mendez," Bentley interrupted. "Sly, are you crazy!? He'll murder you if he finds out that you're behind this! You've just sealed your fate-" Fraley missed again, and his spit hit Bentley in the back of the head. "DARN IT!!!"

"Boy, you shouldn't stand so damned close to the juice jar," Fraley muttered. All of a sudden a loud knocking was heard at the door.

"That's strange. The sign outside says closed. I wonder..." Fraley walked to the window and peeked out. "IT'S THEM!!!"

His scream startled Bentley, causing him to step back and trip over the juice jar. All of its contents spilled out onto his legs. "Yuck!"

Sly held back his laughter and asked, "What's wrong, Fraley? Who is it?"

"It's them! They've returned! Quick, go behind the counter and toss me my boomstick! Afterwards, go down into the basement and protect my ancient brandy with your lives!"

"W-wait a minute," Sly interrupted. "You mean those robed guys who clamor for your alcohol are real!? You didn't make that story up!?"

"No time for questions, Cooper! Now toss me my damned boomstick!"

After tossing Fraley his boomstick, Sly and Bentley ran down into Fraley's basement to protect his ancient brandy.

"HOLY COW!!!"

"What is it, Sly?"

"This brandy really is ancient. It dates back to the 1100's! This is probably worth so much money you could trade it for the Taj Mahal! Straight up awesome-"

A loud gunshot interrupted Sly, followed by two more. All was silent except for some colorful choice words being yelled out by Fraley.

Sly and Bentley walked back up to the main floor, and saw that Fraley had shot his door all to pieces. A car was seen driving away with shot out windows. Fraley was cussing up a storm because he had "missed everyone of those robed brandy theft pigs."

"Um...Fraley-"

"I'm not in the mood for it, Sly. Come back in a few days, and I'll have your money. Now get on out o' here. I gotta get a new door put up"

----------------------------------------------

Sly and Bentley were finally back at the orphanage, getting ready to call it a night. "He seemed pretty mad..." Bentley muttered.

"I imagine most people would be mad if they destroyed their front door while not destroying a single burglar."

Excepting Sly's logic, Bentley lay down and fell asleep instantly.

----------------------------------------------

Mr. Mendez was the first to wake up the next morning. He entered his office, preparing to polish his prized golf trophy before starting the day. However, instead of a trophy, his eyes fell on a blue card that resembled a thief's face of some sort. He realized that his trophy had been stolen during the night. His left eye began twitching madly, and his face twisted into a nasty scowl. "First I get shot at by a crazy junk collector, and now...F-f-f-f-f-f-f-FUUU-" His scream of anger was so loud that it woke up everybody in the orphanage. Some kids were scared terribly, others were amazed by the new, amusing word they had just heard. Sly smiled smugly and went back to sleep.


	7. Aftermath

_**Author Note: I had hoped to put this chapter up yesterday, but a fierce storm had occurred and knocked the power out. My apologies.  
**_

_**Chapter 7: Aftermath**_

Sly and Bentley awoke to the sound of panicked kids, angry adults, and a death glare from Carmelita. Sly gave a mighty yawn and looked at Carmelita innocently. "What's up?"

Carmelita grew even angrier. "What's up? WHAT'S UP!!? All of the presents have been stolen, that's what's up! And I know you have something to do with it," she yelled, poking her finger hard into Sly's chest. She looked so angry that if looks could kill Sly would drop like a fly.

"How do you know it was me? By the way, would you stop pointing your finger in my face?" Sly knew that making her even angrier was a very bad idea but he just couldn't resist the urge.

"I'll point my finger in your face and I'm going to point my foot somewhere else if you don't fess up your crimes!" She looked like she was ready to tackle Sly to the ground and beat him to an inch of his life.

"Again, how do you know it was me? If you plan on working for Interpol one of these days it would probably be a good idea to find proof before making bold assumptions like that." The stunned look on Carmelita's face was priceless. Sly wished he had had a camera with him. Unfortunately, the stunned look slowly transformed into the most vicious and foul death glare he had ever seen. "W-well, Bentley and I had better go now..." He let out a nervous chuckle before whispering to Bentley, "Let's get out of here, buddy. She's murderous at the moment. I must've really ticked her off."

As Sly and Bentley walked through the halls of the orphanage they were constantly thrown menacing stares from everybody. Bentley was as nervous and twitchy as a beaten dog but Sly was confident and smiled smugly to himself. "Relax, Bentley. They can accuse us all they want, but they have absolutely no proof that it was us."

"B-but-"

"I said relax. Nothing is gonna happen to us." They stopped dead in their tracks as Mr. Mendez blocked their path. "Uh...Good morning, Mr. Mendez. I hope this morning finds you in good health."

"Suck up," Bentley muttered. Sly elbowed him hard, but only hurt himself due to the hard shell.

"Sly, I'm not going to waste anytime. I demand some answers from you." He pulled out the blue thief card Sly had replaced the golf trophy with. "Instead of my beautiful, solid gold, hard earned, well earned, shiny, finely polished..."

"Is he ever going to stop with the adjectives," Bentley whispered to Sly.

Sly raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What's an adjective?"

Bentley mentally slapped himself. "I should have known..."

"...God blessed golf trophy, I found this card."

Bentley became white as a sheet, but Sly managed to keep his cool. "And what does that have to do with us?"

"I've been alive for over sixty years, Sly. I know that this card is used by the Cooper family. Your dad put one of these inside of the safe of a near-by casino after he looted it."

Sly quickly realized Mr. Mendez's error. _"Time to play the pity card,"_ he thought mischievously. Sly put on his best hurt look and said in an overly dramatic hurt tone, "My father died a few weeks ago. How could you still accuse him of stealing? HOW COULD YOU!!?" Sly fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands, making large, fake sobs.

Mr. Mendez took the bait hook, line, and sinker. "Sly...I am so sorry. I should never had said such a thing. Please forgive me." He reached into his pocket and pulled out one hundred dollars. "Please, take this as a token of my apology." He stuffed the wad of bills into Sly's hand and went back into his office.

Sly's eyes became dollar signs. "Hehehehe. There's a sucka born every minute, eh Bentley?"

"Indeed there is, Sly." Sly and Bentley turned around to see Big Burt, a goat that was the biggest bully at Happy Campers, waving a set of pictures around. "I's caught you two's stealin' presents last night and took some pics of you's in 'da act. Unless you's give me a share 'o 'da cut, I's gonna tell Mr. Mendez. You's two's got two hours." He then walked away.

"Did you understand a word he said," Bentley asked Sly.

"He spoke in gangster dialect. My father made me learn many dialects in case I was ever in an area where it was spoken. Basically, he said that he caught us and took some pictures. We've got two hours to agree to give him a share of our profit before he rats on us to Mr. Mendez." Bentley looked so scared that he might faint. "But no worries, Bentley. I stole this-" He pulled out an expensive looking camera. "-off of Mr. Mendez as well. What do you say we switch Burt's pictures with some..." His eyes landed on the entrance to the girl's shower room. "...some _other _pictures. Not only will we be safe and sound, but Mr. Mendez will be furious at Burt." Sly smiled mischievously.

"Are you thinking of doing what I think you're doing," Bentley asked nervously.

"I am." Sly began making his way to the shower room.

"But what if you get caught?"

Sly stole a bandanna off of a passing kid and wrapped it around his face. "I won't get caught."

Bentley gasped loudly as Sly charged into the shower room a maximum speed. He heard clicks of a camera, panicked screams, and a painful sounding slap that was followed by Sly cursing up a storm. Sly burst back out of the shower room, grabbed Bentley, and ran inside of the janitor's closet. "Sly, are you crazy!?"

"Shhhhhhh...Relax, Bentley. I's got 'da pics," he said quietly, mimicking Burt. He handed the pictures to Bentley. "You want a look?"

Bentley blushed deeply. "W-what!? NO!!! I-I'm not like that at all!"

"Whatever," Sly said. "Anyways, let's hunt down Burt. We've got some picture swapping to do."

It took them a while to find him. They found him outside talking to a group of friends. "So how do we swap the pictures without getting caught?" Sly said nothing but, to Bentley's amazement, pulled out a Volcano 58,000 firework.. "Where'd you get one of those!?"

"Stole it off of Fraley." He stuck a smaller firework up underneath of the Volcano. He pulled out a match and lit the wick of both of the fireworks. "Watch and learn from the master." He ran into the social circle of the bullies and set the Volcano down, and then ran back out. Sly smirked as they all stood around gazing at the Volcano in wonder. He quickly swapped the photos with Burt, and then ran back towards Bentley. They charged back into the school just as the smaller firework's wick burnt out and blew up, sending Burt and his friends running about in a panic.

Two hours later Sly and Bentley stood hiding behind a trashcan near Mr. Mendez's office, trying to hold back their laughter.

Burt came strutting down the hallway towards the office with a smug look on his face. He knocked on the door and Mr. Mendez opened. "Can I help you, young man?"

"I's got sumthin' to show you's," he said. He pulled out the pictures and shoved them into Mr. Mendez's hands. "Get a good look at those." Mr. Mendez's eyes widened as he looked at the pictures.

"W-what is this!?"

"Heh heh. I's knows what you's mean. Surprisin', ain't it?"

Mr. Mendez looked so angry Sly thought he was about to beat Burt through the wall. "YOU ARE IN A WORLD OF TROUBLE, BURT WILLIAMSON!!!" He grabbed Burt painfully by the ear and began dragging him down the hallway. Sly and Bentley could no longer contain their laughter.


	8. Detention

Chapter 8: Detention

It had been a few weeks since Sly and Bentley had framed the school bully. It was now early January, which meant that the short break was over and classes were starting again. Which meant that Sly would once again begin thinking up petty schemes and different ways to skip classes. Sly had been skipping his Science class, choosing instead to sleep the rest of the morning hidden behind a dumpster.

Sly awoke with a start as the intercom came on and Mr. Mendez's voice boomed out. "Sly Cooper, come to my office. Now." He didn't seem angry or aggravated, but Sly knew that he would be if he arrived late. Sly made his way to Mr. Mendez's office as slowly as possible.

Sly casually walked into the office and flopped down one of the cushy chairs in the room. "Not bad, sir. Quite a nice little den you have here." He then rudely placed his feet up on Mr. Mendez's desk. "So, what was it you wanted?" He smirked as Mr. Mendez's fierce glare fell upon him. If looks could kill, Sly would have dropped dead.

"First of all," Mr. Mendez muttered angrily through clenched teeth, "I'd really appreciate it if you would be so kind as to GET YOUR DIRTY FEET OFF OF MY DESK!!!"

"What was that? I wasn't paying attention."

Mr. Mendez's left eye twitched. Trying his best to stay calm, he stood and walked towards the door behind his desk, leading to the second part of his office. "Follow me," he muttered. He stopped at the door and waited for Sly.

"Hold up a minute," Sly said as he approached Mr. Mendez. "I couldn't help but notice that you're wearing a very expensive suit. Special occasion?"

Mr. Mendez simply smirked at him. "I'm a very rich man, little boy. I can afford anything, especially fancy suits. Ha ha ha!" Mr. Mendez was hoping that by rubbing the fact that he was very rich in Sly's face, he would anger him.

It didn't.

"I'm guessing you've got a hot date for the night. He he he, nice one, old man. You've still got it," Sly stated as he flicked the suit's tie.

"Wha? I'm married with two kids!"

"Say what now? You married two kids?" He leaned in close to Mr. Mendez and whispered, "Is that legal?"

Mr. Mendez almost slapped himself. "Ugh. I'm married and I have two kids, you nitwit!"

"Oh, I see. So, you're taking your wife out to dinner, is that it?"

"Actually, I'm taking her sister out in celebration of-"

"Wait, what!?" Sly actually looked shocked. "You're married and have two kids, but you're taking your wife's sister out on a date!? You've got some balls, I'll give you that."

"You idiot," Mr. Mendez yelled. "Let me finish what I was saying before you jump to bold conclusions! As I was saying, both my wife and I are taking her to dinner in celebration of her upcoming wedding." Mr. Mendez took a few sips from the mug of steaming coffee he was holding with both hands. "'Bout time she got married too. That old bat has been engaged for over fifteen years."

"Sounds like you and her don't get along very well,' Sly observed.

"Well, of course not! That hag has hated me ever since I married Darleen. Every single time she comes over to out house she has to constantly scream and bi-" A look of great annoyance crossed Mr. Mendez's face. "Why am I discussing this with you!? Get in there," he yelled as he threw the door open.

The office looked a little more different from the other one. It was completely dark except for a single lit lamp that sat on a large, oak desk. The desk was littered with papers of various sorts and it had a few pencils laying on it; Sly noted that those items were all that were on the desk. They were the only items in the whole room. The walls and floor were completely bare; not a single poster or rug. "And so I enter the dragon's den," Sly muttered to himself.

"You say something, Cooper?"

"Not a thing."

"Very well, then." Mr. Mendez sat down in a brown leather chair on the other side of the desk. A thick cloud of dust settled in the air, causing both Sly and Mr. Mendez to have a coughing fit. Afterwards, Mr. Mendez motioned for Sly to sit in the other chair. Once again, they both suffered another coughing fit. "Now, I suppose you know why I called you here?" Mr. Mendez glared at Sly.

Sly was currently ramming his index finger into his left ear in an attempt to clean it. He took his finger out and wiped it on the chair. "Huh?"

Mr. Mendez sighed deeply in annoyance and took off his glasses as he began rubbing his eyes, trying to ease the pain of a growing head ache. He then took out one of the sheets of paper laying on the desk. This, unfortunately, caused a bunch of dust to be lifted into the air, once again bringing them into coughing fits.

"Good grief, Mr. Mendez," Sly said between coughs. "Don't you ever clean this place?"

Mr. Mendez let out one last mighty cough that shook the chair he was setting in. "I tell the stupid janitor to clean it everyday. I'm about ready to fire that lazy bum. Anyway," he said as he began writing on the yellow sheet of paper, "I've called you hear in order to give you this." He handed Sly the piece of paper. "You have received detention for that little food fight you start yesterday."

"Oh c'mon, even you have to admit that was funny."

"I was hit in the face with hot chili," Mr. Mendez roared. "That whole mess was absolutely disgusting!"

"Are you talking about that food fight or are you looking at your floor?"

"You imbecile," Mr. Mendez muttered. 'The detention room is in room 34. You will go there tomarrow. It lasts for approximately eight hours. Now get out of here and go to class. And don't you even think of going back to that dumpster."

"How did you know about tha-"

"I can see the dumpster you were sleeping behind through my office window. Now, get out!"

Defeated, Sly sighed deeply and slid off of the chair hastily, only to cause both him and Mr. Mendez to suffer through another coughing fit.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Author Note: Next chapter, Murray finally joins the gang. Read and review, please.


	9. The Stalker, Janitor, and Soap Bucket

**_Author Note: _**_Wow, been quite a while since my last update. My apologies. This is a rather short chapter, though it should do until tomorrow's update, which is a much longer chapter. Expect to see around 2, possibly even 3 updates before this month is over. Also, Murray will join up with Sly and Bentley in the next chapter._

--------------------

_**Chapter 9: The Stalker, the Janitor, and the Soap Bucket  
**_

Bentley was becoming very frustrated. No matter how hard he tried to help Sly with his math problems he just couldn't get through to him. "No, Sly, that's all wrong! Follow the algorithm, Sly! The algorithm!"

"The what?"

"The algorithm!"

Sly simply tilted his head in confusion. "The what?"

"Agh! Forget it!"

Sly's eyes narrowed as he stared Bentley down. "You know, we could have avoided this whole scene if you'd have just given me the answers."

"I refuse to pass classes for you, Sly. One day you'll thank me for this."

"Well, aren't you the original one," Sly replied grumpily.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

A new, more feminine voice interrupted their argument. "S-Sly? Are you busy at the moment?"

Sly groaned in annoyance. "It's the romance freak," he whispered to Bentley. "Uh, yeah, actually I am kind of busy at the moment," Sly told Erika. The bell rang, letting the kids know that lunch was ready. "I have to, uh, go to the library to study for a math test."

Bentley laughed out loud.

Erika's eyes lit up like glistening diamonds. "Really? How romantic! I was going to ask you if you wanted to go there with me, but you're already on your way there. We can go together!"

Bentley laughed again.

Sly began nervously glancing at his surroundings, hoping to come up with a good excuse not to go with her. His eyes landed on the kids heading towards the cafeteria. "Of course, I thought maybe I'd get something to eat first. It's...uhhh..." He noticed the new kid, Murray whom hadn't even left his desk, pull a wrapped hot dog out of his enormous lunch box. "...It's hot dog day."

"Ewww...I don't like those." Sly sighed with relief. "I'll just get something from the salad bar instead." She held out her arm for Sly to take. "Shall we?"

Bentley laughed even harder.

Thinking fast, Sly gave the first excuse that came to him. "But before that, I have to use the bathroom!"

Erika's smile never left. "Oh, no biggy. I can wait."

_"Just how determined is this girl!?" _Sly thought. He noticed the janitor, an old wolf named Ari Jenkins, mopping in the hallway. Sly left the now-empty classroom to walk towards Ari with the others following close behind; except for Murray, whom was currently enjoying a quadruple cheeseburger. "You see, before I can even eat lunch I have to serve a short detention by helping out Ari here."

Bentley knew that this was a complete lie. Sly had served his detention yesterday.

Sly lightly punched Ari in the right shoulder. "Isn't that right, Ari?"

Ari, neither knowing nor caring about what Sly was talking about simply said, "Yeah, whatever."

Erika looked as if she was about to cry. "So...y-you won't be able to spend time with me at all today?" Her big eyes looked as if they were about to be overrun with tears.

Sly sighed in defeat. He didn't want to make the friendly girl cry. "Alright, I'll tell you what. If I have any time left I'll go to you in the library. Just wait for me there, okay?"

"Wait for you...?" she said curiously. Erika, of course, took this the wrong way. "Of course I'll wait for you, Sly. Ever since I've met you I've wondered when you would be ready to convey your passionate feelings towards me. This is the moment I've fantasized for weeks about. Oh, how _romantic_!!!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sly said lazily while rolling his eyes, not really paying any attention. Then Sly quickly blinked as he registered what Erika had just said. "Wait, what?" He was too late.

Sly and Bentley watched as Erika skipped away happily. Unfortunately, she had forgotten that Ari had just mopped the floor. She slipped on the wet surface. "Wah!" She landed painfully on her butt. "Ooph!" Erika became depressed as she saw that her notebooks had landed in Ari's soap bucket, splashing water on him. She gasped loudly and dramatically. "Oh, Mr. Jenkins, I am so sorr-"

"Yeah, whatever," Ari replied casually, as if he didn't really care that he had just been soaked with soap water. He probably didn't.


	10. Author Note

_**Author Note: **Been a while, huh? My deepest apologies to everyone who reads this story. It has been a great deal of time since I last updated. Unfortunately, there won't be an update this month due to some stuff going on in my life. Don't worry though, this story is not dead and it will be finished, same goes for my other fanfic. Hopefully, I'll get the time to update a couple times next month. So please be patient until I update and thank you all for your interest in this story. It means a lot. _:)


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